


cover your crystal eyes (and let your colours bleed and blend with mine)

by hearden



Series: Per Aspera [2]
Category: Pacific Rim (Movies), Power Rangers, Power Rangers Zeo
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pacific Rim Fusion, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-17
Updated: 2018-02-17
Packaged: 2019-03-18 22:43:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13691385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hearden/pseuds/hearden
Summary: Still reeling from the attack on Angel Grove that sent her best friend into a coma, Katherine Hillard has trouble getting back into the fight against the kaiju pouring out of The Breach. With a history of increasingly temporary, drift compatible co-pilots, she considers the idea of retiring as a Ranger forever. But, an emerging threat -- a wave of monsters merging with machines -- forces Kat to reluctantly step back into her Jaeger with recent Academy graduate, Tanya Sloan, in order to defend the city one last time.





	cover your crystal eyes (and let your colours bleed and blend with mine)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [valkyrierising](https://archiveofourown.org/users/valkyrierising/gifts).



> note: ok so for the original duration of ranger romance ficathon, i had struggled for so long over whether to do lauren/mia or kat/tanya + pacific rim au bc what a hard choice... i ended up going w/ lauren/mia bc lauren comes very easily to me while kat and tanya... do not HOWEVER as u can see now, i decided that both were good choices regardless
> 
> i keep writing up these summaries as if villains actually appear but do people really read pacific rim aus for kaiju fighting? no, no they don't, they read them for relationship building and drift compatibility which is EXACTLY what ur getting but also this one actually has some kaiju fighting
> 
> anyway here's some more femslash february/ranger romance pacific rim angst in a sort of prequel fashion

**ANGEL GROVE SHATTERDOME, CALIFORNIA - 2014**

After Xandred had been sealed back into The Breach by the Rangers from Panorama, everyone thought that was it. Years of war, of fighting and death, blood and sweat, watching the world change around them faster than they could've ever imagined -- it was all over. And, for awhile, it was.

Talk of the Jaeger Mark-1 program being shelved circulated through every news station, radio broadcast, and data stream. Trainees in the Academy began wondering not about who they would drift with in their first Jaeger after graduating, but rather what career fields would be open to taking retired graduates. There weren't many places that would particularly _need_ Jaeger pilots for the struggles of everyday life.

And, then, The Breach broke open, and the lead Ranger from Panorama sacrificed himself in an effort to send Xandred back. It was only temporary -- everyone knew that, and thus, the Jaeger program continued and kaiju flooded the oceans.

In the ensuing war, the Panorama Shatterdome suffered heavy losses, already out one Ranger, then two, then five, and the numbers kept coming. It was only by a stroke of luck and human perseverance that five newly-trained graduates from the Angel Grove Shatterdome were able to protect Panorama from complete destruction.

Hope restored in the fight, the Angel Grove Shatterdome churned out more recruits, all taking up the Ranger mantle with few difficulties. The tide of the war was turning. Victory seemed imminent.

But, then again, what seemed imminent wasn't always.

 

-

 

_Beep… beep… beep…_

Kat breathes in and out with the rise and fall of Aisha's chest, biting on the inside of her cheek. She's been in the medbay, at Aisha's bedside, long enough to count out the soft beeps of the heart monitor, like a metronome, dictating her own rhythm. The radiation is long gone, of course, but the doctors have still insisted on Aisha being kept in a stasis pod until she regains consciousness, which means Kat can only place her hand on the pod window instead of on her friend's cheek, like she so desperately wants to.

And, even then, whenever she does, a nurse rushes by and barks at her to not smudge the glass.

_"Ranger Hillard, please report to the marshal's office."_

She straightens up in her seat at Alpha 5's voice crackling over the comms and frowns, glancing around to check if the coast is clear before pressing a quick kiss to the pod window, right above Aisha's forehead. Nodding to herself, Kat hastily wipes away the faint smudge with the hem of her sleeve. "I'll see you soon," she says, softly, before walking away.

The hallways are empty as they have been lately. Things aren't going well, haven't been, and the base is quieter for that. Kat's footsteps echo and bounce off of the walls as she makes her way to the marshal's office, keeping her breath in time to a rhythm only she can hear.

Arriving, Kat gently knocks on the door, standing at attention when it swings open and Marshal Zordon gestures her inside. Three of the other Rangers are already inside, lounging on the marshal's sofa, so Kat joins them, softly chuckling to herself when Adam pushes Rocky onto the armrest to give her a proper space to sit down in. She settles between Adam and Billy.

"Do you know what's going on?" Kat whispers into Adam's ear.

He shrugs and whispers back, "Beats me."

Beside her, Billy shifts but stays silent.

"Aisha's situation has left us short a Ranger," Zordon says without turning to look at them.

Kat tenses and swallows, dryly, "Is… someone from the Academy coming to join us?"

Zordon nods, and Kat claps her hands in her lap, hoping that she doesn't get nauseous.

"What, um, what if they're not drift compatible with me, Marshal?" Kat asks, quietly, "Vile is still out there, and he's probably going to come back soon. We injured him, but that'll only hold for so long."

"They'll be drift compatible with you," Zordon responds, more confident than Kat feels, but doesn't elaborate.

She doesn't need to do the math to know, though. Having Aisha split off from Adam and Rocky had already been a risky enough move in the first place. At least, that was what Kat had read from the files she'd been sent prior to succeeding Kim. Two triple-pilot Jaegers at the same base made them dangerous, but the kaiju coming through The Breach had been getting stronger, calling for more firepower, more Jaegers.

It had worked out, and Aisha and Kim had drifted smoothly without even so much as a hiccup. Of course, it had worked out, Kat thinks. She can't really name someone that Kim couldn't possibly drift with.

But, her and Aisha -- that had been a bigger risk, but Kim had gotten injured and Kim had insisted and Kim had _trusted_ her and it had, against all of Kat's insecurities and doubts, been a successful pairing.

But, now, Aisha was laying in the medbay, and Kat was left feeling guilty.

"Okay," she murmurs, uncertainly.

A light knock sounds against the door. Zordon goes to open it, and Kat sighs to herself, prepared to roll her eyes at Tommy's reliable tardiness, but when the door swings open, her exasperation catches in her throat.

A chorus of " _Jason?_ " greets the new visitor.

Jason's grin reaches his ears, but Kat doesn't bother wondering how he can still look so optimistic when everything's been going so wrong for them lately. If she looks hard enough, she thinks she can see some of the same sadness in Jason's eyes that she has in all the other Rangers' for the past month, though.

"Hey, guys," he says, easily, settling for going over and leaning against a bookcase on the opposite wall, "I guess you haven't heard the news yet?"

"Are you… are you coming back?" Billy asks, raising his eyebrows, "All the triple-pilot Jaegers have been scrapped, Jason, you know that."

"I'm not here to pilot with you and Tommy," Jason answers then glances around, brow furrowed, "Where _is_ Tommy, anyway?"

"Late as usual," Kat scoffs, but her heart skips a beat and her anxiety calms itself. If Jason was back and he wasn't piloting with Billy and Tommy, then--

Tommy pokes his head through the open door and clears his throat, standing at attention when Zordon looks at him, "I'm sorry for being late, sir."

Out of the corner of her eye, Kat sees Jason shake his head, amusedly.

"Thank you for finally arriving, Tommy," Zordon turns to them and gestures to Jason, "Because of our dire circumstances, Jason will be here to fill Aisha's place, and as we already know, drifting won't be a problem."

He nods at Kat, and she breathes out a small sigh of relief. She'd been worried about a replacement -- someone who would take Aisha's place _permanently,_ but Kat knows Jason, in more ways than one, _through_ more ways than one. They've never drifted directly, but having had a few co-pilots in common, Kat feels like she already knows what it's like inside of Jason's head. That, she's comfortable with.

 

-

 

Kat takes a deep breath as she clicks her helmet into place, settling into the left command platform. She'd insisted on Jason taking the right side, even though he'd protested because it wasn't even remotely _his_ Jaeger, but she's used to it -- used to controlling the left hemisphere because the right had always been Aisha's side once Kim had left, even if it's a right side that's been redone within the past couple of weeks. Changing things up now would force her to acknowledge something that she doesn't want to even consider.

They had skipped over the Kwoon Room entirely. It was a formality at this point, one that everyone had pretty much agreed Kat and Jason didn't need -- not when all of Kim's co-pilots had, at one point or another, become Kat's co-pilots as well. Her compatibility with Jason was assumed, and Kat felt oddly safe taking that for granted. It was better than worrying about someone new, at least.

Jason stretches one last time then grabs the right hemisphere controller and nods at her, "Ready?"

Kat grips her controller and hums her confirmation, "Ready."

She watches him flip the power on. "Ursa Aerial, ready for drift compatibility test," Jason calls out, "This is Ranger Scott and Ranger Hillard checking in."

Alpha 5's voice drifts back in response, _"Engaging pilot-to-pilot protocol."_

Kat closes her eyes.

_"Initiating neural handshake in 15… 14… 13…"_

 

-

 

It ends up working only because Jason takes close to nothing into The Grid. For that, Kat doesn't know whether to be envious or irritated or infuriated, even though she has no reason to feel those things. Mostly.

She'd seen his memories -- the first months where he and the original four had saved Panorama City when its Ranger team had died, when they'd rescued Tommy and nobody else had been able to drift with him, not when the trauma of being kidnapped by a kaiju was still so fresh on his mind. Nobody except Jason, of course, who took nothing into and from The Grid. And, she feels nothing from them, a sort of stoic calmness that washes over her like a gentle river, urging her to let go, let go, let go.

She tries, but he sees her memories, too, the ones she doesn't want to part with, things that she'd taken from Aisha when they first drifted, things that she would inevitably have to give to him or anyone else she joined in The Grid with. Jason says nothing to her when the test is over, just smiles and gives her a hearty, congratulatory hug before going to change and head for the mess hall, but Kat feels it in the air, knows it in her heart. He wouldn't bring up the glimpses he'd seen of Kim or Aisha or Kim _and_ Aisha in her mind unless she brought it up first, which, of course, she would never.

Still, she stays quiet and chooses to sit next to Adam for lunch and dinner, even when there's an empty seat at the table next to Jason.

 

-

 

The blaring alarm yanks Kat out of her dreams, and she wakes with a startled gasp, clutching at her chest. A pounding on her door follows, and Tommy's voice echoes through, muffled, "Kat! We're being deployed!"

She stares at the ceiling, still disoriented, and breathes a sigh of relief.

Aisha is still alive.

Dragging herself out of bed, Kat tugs her clothes on as fast as she can, throwing her hair up into a messy bun. She scrambles to the door and pulls it open, stopping herself at the last moment from running straight into Tommy.

He squints at her, "Are you okay?"

"Uh, yeah," she murmurs, brushing past him and keeping her eyes low, "I'm fine. Tired. Come on, let's go." She starts walking toward the launch bay before he can ask any more questions. When they get there, Kat splits off from Tommy as he goes to join Billy. Jason is already in the armory, fully suited up, and he helps her put on her Drivesuit.

"How're you feeling?" Kat asks, quietly, as he clicks the front and back pieces of her torso armor into place.

He shrugs, "It's been awhile, but I feel alright. Good."

"That's good," she responds, noncommittally, and grabs her helmet from the rack.

"You?"

"Had a nightmare," she answers, frowning, but keeps it vague. Jason would find out in a matter of minutes.

"Ah, well--"

"Leave it behind. I know."

He nods and gestures for her to enter Ursa Aerial's Conn-Pod first, "After you."

 

-

 

Kat's breath catches in her throat the moment that ugly head rears above the waves. It's dark outside, past midnight, but she knows that shape, that silhouette, and that energy signature had looked _so_ familiar--

She voices it aloud, "It's Vile, you guys. But, something… something's off."

He's still far away, having noticed their entrance -- three Jaegers dropping in by air isn't subtle -- but not advancing. Not yet.

 _"We hurt him last time,"_ Adam says over the comms, _"Maybe that's why his signature was different."_ Something about that doesn't strike her as correct, but Kat doesn't have much time to think about it. Not when they're back here, when she's back here.

 _"Rangers, status report,"_ Zordon orders, his voice unerringly calm, not at all like how Kat feels in her stomach.

Beside her, Jason murmurs, "Stay cool."

She doesn't have the heart to tell him that that hardly helps, but she feels like he knows.

 _"Rogue Falcon, all systems green."_ Tommy.

 _"Royal Gem, ready to rumble."_ Rocky.

"Ursa Aerial, checking in." She glances at Jason, hoping that, somehow, his confidence could rub off on her through The Grid. Or, at the very least, that her anxiety isn't rubbing off on him in turn.

_"You are cleared to engage, Rangers."_

"Yes, sir, engaging target."

Kat braces herself and steps forward, one foot in front of the other, moving in sync with Jason. It doesn't feel _perfect,_ as it naturally wouldn't, but it feels good enough. She knows her presence isn't the same for him, either, not when he's drifted with the other five all at some point before, that they would be better matches for him, that they'd meld smoother with him. But, necessity is the mother of substitution.

Ursa Aerial is furthest away, so Kat watches Rogue Falcon get to Vile first, missiles flying out of its arm-mounted rocket launchers to slam into Vile's chest. Attention diverted, Vile lunges out of the high waves at Rogue Falcon, and as a spotlight on Rogue Falcon's head hits Vile, that's when Kat sees it and tenses.

She feels Jason's confusion and a prickle of anxiety brush against her mind and counts that as the first time -- what unfortunate timing -- that she feels anything from him besides cool stoicism.

"What _is_ that?" she whispers.

And, then, the plasma cannon attached to Vile's arm charges up and tears a hole in Rogue Falcon's left shoulder.

 

-

 

Hours later, even when the alarms have stopped ringing in her ears, Billy's scream stays.

She wants to visit Aisha, to just feel the comfort, even if it's forced and fake on her part, of her best friend, but going near the medbay brings up another wave of nausea every time she thinks about it. Billy is being taken care of, his mind brought to the brink by the damage Vile caused, and physically, he's fine. That meant, though, that everyone else had to wait in Marshal Zordon's office.

Kat wants to reach out and yank Tommy into a seat, any seat, after he frustratedly paces from Zordon's desk to the far end of the room for the eleventh time. Jason puts a hand on her thigh and quietly shakes his head, so she presses her lips together and concedes.

"The kaiju have evolved," Zordon says, solemnly, stating what they'd already figured out minutes after seeing the fact, "We've identified that the cannon Vile utilized was from one of the Jaegers that was lost to The Breach."

"How the _hell_ did they merge with our technology?" Tommy demands, his eyes wild, "We haven't even fully figured out how they work, and now, we're at even _more_ of a disadvantage?"

"Dinosaur eats man," Adam comments, but his tone is harsh rather than lighthearted, "They're getting smarter, and we're just getting more exhausted."

Zordon glances over them all, contemplating. Kat realizes how much she feels like a child again, like how she had when the war had begun, in his analytic gaze. She looks down and bites the inside of her cheek, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

 

-

 

Kat aimlessly scrolls through the newsfeed on her datapad with her thumb. She had taken to reading the news aloud to Aisha, hoping, dreaming that she'd be heard, but today wasn't the best day for reading _any_ news aloud. Another article about Tokyo's heroic solo pilot passes by, followed by a more grim outlook on how long it's going to take Tokyo to get back on its feet, and Kat tosses her datapad onto the bedside table next to Aisha's pod and sighs, heavily, leaning back into her seat.

If she turns her head and peeks out from behind the curtain separating Aisha from the rest of the medbay, she'll see Billy, still unconscious, in his own hospital bed, his arm in a sling.

 

-

 

It's too dangerous for them to be in the field with only two Jaegers when Vile had taken them all down with three, but repairs on Rogue Falcon had been performed with time being of the essence. Kat doesn't bother saying how she feels to see Jason walking off for a neural link test with Tommy, not that they need one, but he knows. He knows, and it makes sense. Her rhythm is off, has been since Aisha got injured because that was _her_ fault, and it hasn't gotten better. Somehow, she reasons, Vile merging with parts of a Jaeger that they'd lost to The Breach and putting Billy out for the count is probably her fault, too.

 

-

 

Her day starts and ends with the same.

Wake up, even though it's pointless.

Eat, even though it's pointless.

Train, even though it's pointless.

Visit Aisha, even though it's pointless.

 

-

 

Billy wakes up but refuses to go back into the field. Kat understands, sympathizes, and hopes that he can tell in her sad smile as Jason pats him on the back. Later in the day, his Drivesuit will be retired, and when he's able to get out of bed, he'll be transferred to K-Science, and she'll see him even less.

That night, in bed, while staring at the ceiling, Kat begins drafting her resignation letter in her head.

 

-

 

She stands in Zordon's office, a week later, her retirement on the tip of her tongue, when the door opens behind her, and she whirls around. A woman stands in the doorframe, adjusting a trainee jacket around her shoulders. The name _Sloan_ is stitched onto the right front pocket. She gives Kat a small smile, and Kat's heart sinks and she thinks, _Oh, no._

"This is Tanya Sloan," Zordon says, "She just graduated from the Academy, and she's come for a test tomorrow."

"Uh, hi," Kat reaches forward to shake Tanya's hand, and as their palms touch, her stomach repeats, _Oh, no,_ "A test? I thought… I thought the new graduates weren't due for another couple of months?"

"I'm a special case," Tanya says, her eyes crinkling as she smiles.

"I'll see you both in the Kwoon Room at 0700 tomorrow," Zordon gives Kat a pat on the shoulder that has her tensing, a much louder rhythm pounding in her ears, almost drowning out his words, "Unless you had something else to say, Katherine?"

She swallows and meets Tanya's gaze, "Um, no, not at all. Tomorrow, then."

 

-

 

Hesitantly, Kat knocks on the door to Tanya's room. They had had dinner together, with the others, earlier, but she hadn't said much to Tanya or anyone else. Tommy and Rocky had done most of the chatting, and Kat was always fine letting them when she didn't have the words to say.

The door opens a crack, and Tanya peeks out at her, "Oh, hey." She opens the door wider and smiles, "What're you doing here?"

"I, um," Kat clears her throat, softly, "I wanted to… see if you wanted to… go to the Combat Room."

Tanya raises an eyebrow and runs a hand through her curls, "I thought that's tomorrow morning."

"It is," Kat says, hastily, and clasps her hands together, "But, um…"

_God, how is she going to say this?_

She decides to just go for it. "Have you heard about… what happened to my last co-pilot?"

"Jason?"

"Before him."

Tanya blinks and then gets it, " _Oh._ Oh, um. Yeah, I heard about that. I'm sorry, by the way."

"Wasn't your fault," Kat mumbles, automatically.

Tanya tilts her head, "It wasn't yours, either."

She shakes her head, choosing to not acknowledge that, "I just-- You know how people are about Rangers. They like to watch us train and drift and launch, and it's not…"

"It's not private," Tanya finishes for her and nods, "I get you." She pauses and thinks about it for a moment then grabs her jacket from where it hangs next to the door, "Alright, let's go."

 

-

 

Kat watches Tanya take off her jacket and leave it on the ground before walking over to the racks of practice staffs on the wall. "No weapons," she calls out, uncertainly, then clears her throat and repeats it, more sure of herself.

Tanya pauses and shoots her a confused look, "Why?"

"I don't feel like weapons are really my… medium," she says, softly, shrugging.

Tanya steps onto the mat and faces Kat, not quite getting it but going along, anyway; just the action tells her a lot of things, along with the fact that a complete stranger would be willing to follow her out to the Kwoon Room at such a late hour. "What's your medium?" she asks.

Kat takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. When she opens them, she meets Tanya's gaze and her heart repeats, _Oh, no,_ and it clicks, like it had with Kim, like it had with Aisha. The rhythm is her medium, her heartbeat, the blood rushing in her ears.

With padded footsteps on the mat, Tanya runs at her, flowing easily into a kick aimed for the left side of her head. She stops the kick, though, her hand coming up to grip Tanya's ankle. They stand, stuck in the moment, for a second as Tanya struggles not to lose her balance, but when Kat doesn't move to yank her off of her feet, Tanya stops squirming and simply stands.

"There is no score," Kat states, "A dialogue doesn't keep track of who's winning."

Tanya furrows her brow at that but nods, understanding even if that way of thinking is new to her. Kat knows that the Academy doesn't teach full uniformity, but it's there, enough so that most partnerships formed in the Kwoon Room follow the same base. Hers do, too, but not quite the same.

She yanks her arm, pulling Tanya off-balance, but Tanya is ready, bracing her hands on the mat when her leg is let go and recovering quickly without stumbling. Kat doesn't let her get a breather in and lunges, the palm of her hand going directly for Tanya's shoulder. Her tactic is used against her, and despite the situation, Kat finds herself smiling as Tanya grabs her wrist and twists her arm behind her back.

Kat doesn't crane her head to look, but she knows Tanya is smiling as well.

Tanya lets go of her wrist, and immediately, Kat whirls around. Again, Tanya catches the strike aimed for her cheek and raises her eyebrows at Kat, "Really? Twice in a row?"

Kat uses the hold to grab Tanya's wrist in turn and pulls, turning Tanya around and trapping her in chokehold, back to chest, her free arm pressed against Tanya's collarbone. She leans down just slightly and whispers in Tanya's ear, repeating, "A dialogue doesn't keep track of who's winning."

She feels Tanya's chuckle through her own bones. "Oh, but if it did, it'd be me, right?"

 

-

 

Their next deployment is right when Kat is walking Tanya to her room, the air between them something different. Not electric like it had been with Kim, but not loud and vibrant like it had been with Aisha. Something quieter. A rhythm, too, but Kat can't write it down in her mind.

The alarm stops them both in their tracks, and they both run to the launch bay, footsteps mirroring each other's. Kat mentally praises the fact that she hadn't changed into her pajamas yet for the night as she slams the button for the elevator with her palm. They arrive in the launch bay minutes before the others and are properly suited up before even Tommy gets there.

"Rangers," Zordon's voice stops Kat right as she's grabbing her helmet, "You haven't been cleared for the field yet." Kat looks at Zordon, standing in the door, and at Tanya who's adjusting the Drivesuit the technicians had hastily gotten together for her.

"We're compatible, sir," Kat says, confidently.

He glances between the two of them, "Are you sure?"

Kat shares a nod with Tanya, "Yes, sir, I've never been more sure of anything."

"We need to be out there, Marshal," Tanya adds, grabbing her own helmet.

 

-

 

To be fair to Zordon's worries, testing drift compatibility on the fly like this wasn't recommended, but the alarms can't be anticipated, and if it's Vile -- which Kat has a hunch in the pit of her stomach that it is, and she _knows_ she's right -- then they can't wait for an official test, they can't wait for procedures.

Tanya glances at Kat as they step into Ursa Aerial's Conn-Pod for the first time. She makes a move toward the left side, as most newbies would, and Kat almost stops her, almost asks for the left side herself, but it hits her right then. As much as she wouldn't have wanted to be before, she's the dominant pilot, now, the one with the experience, and Tanya trusts her to be that.

Kat steps onto the right command platform, her boots locking in with the imprints, and settles in as the technicians hook her up to her feedback cradle. She takes her controller and flips the power on, taking a deep breath. She'd been worried that it would feel odd or wrong, but it doesn't.

"Ursa Aerial, checking in," she calls out, glancing at Tanya, who gives her a reassuring nod.

_"Engaging pilot-to-pilot protocol."_

_"Initiating neural handshake in 15… 14… 13…"_

Kat closes her eyes, focuses.

_Even with Ursa Aerial's entire right arm missing and a giant hole in the right side of the Conn-Pod, the onboard AI is still functioning properly, and for that, Kat is grateful. She doesn't look at Aisha, unconscious and held up, standing, in her feedback cradle, doesn't dare to look, but the AI keeps repeating Aisha's vitals to her as her blood rushes in her ears._

_Tommy's voice cuts through the noise, breaking her flow, "Kat, go! Get Aisha back to shore!"_

_She can do that. She can do that. She has to do that._

_"Yeah, I-I'm going--" Kat says, her voice strained, probably louder than it actually is in her ears, "Ursa Aerial, pulling back. Give me-- gimme some cover fire." The pounding in her head grows more ferocious, prickling behind her eyes, but she ignores it, groaning against the pain. A ringing begins in her ears, accompanied, distantly, by Adam asking if she's okay, but she ignores it._

_Kat thinks she blacks out, unsure, but she gets back to shore, half by herself and half with the help of Adam and Rocky piloting beside her, but there's not much a giant Jaeger can do to help another giant Jaeger when even walking is a struggle. Trying but failing, she's slipping in and out of consciousness, breathing heavily and grunting in pain, but Kat is sure that, at some point, she stopped screaming in her head and started screaming out loud because everyone keeps bothering her on the comms, but she doesn't waste her breathing effort on responding to them. Land is in sight, and she lets go, finally, and Ursa Aerial crashes to the ground._

The countdown ends, and Kat gives her pain up to The Grid.

 

-

 

"Watch out for the cannon!" Kat shouts, maneuvering Ursa Aerial out of the way just in time to have the white-hot streak of plasma miss hitting the left side. She can feel Tanya moving with her, and if the other woman can sense the relief that washes over her, she doesn't comment on it.

 _"We're not getting anywhere with this!"_ Adam's voice comes through the comms as Vile, once again, blocks an attempt from Royal Gem to grapple him from behind and sends the Jaeger sprawling, taking out an entire building in the process.

"We're not getting anywhere because he's using our tech against us," Kat mumbles, voicing her thoughts aloud. She gets a prick of realization from Tanya and straightens, glancing over at her, "What?"

"We need to get Vile into the water," Tanya says, "I've got a plan."

Kat searches the space between them, sensing Tanya's plan without having to hear her say it.

 _"What's the plan?"_ Tommy asks, right before Rogue Falcon ducks and narrowly avoids a plasma blast that would've taken its head clear off.

"Get Vile into the water," Kat orders, "We're gonna do what we do best -- use our tech against him. We have nuclear cores for a reason."

 

-

 

Tanya throws her head back and laughs, and Kat gazes at her, something settling in her chest and calling it home. She loves it, the ease with which Tanya had just grown accustomed to her and her routine, her rhythm.

"You would've loved seeing it," Kat murmurs, running her thumb across the pod window, giving Aisha a fond glance, wishing she could reach in and hold her hand, "The look on Zordon's face?"

" _That's not the reason we have nuclear cores,_ " Tanya mocks, giggling and shaking her head, "I mean, he's not wrong -- we can't be hitting self-destruct on all the Jaegers every time something new and improved like Vile shows up."

Kat scoffs, softly, her mind still buzzing, but she can't bring herself to be mad at being grounded. Their plan -- _Tanya's_ plan -- worked, and they get to live and fight another day and, hopefully, figure out a way to outsmart any more kaiju coming out of The Breach with Jaeger tech. "Zordon's pissed, but we're still Rangers. I heard J-Tech is already working on blueprints for us." She smiles, sadly but fondly, at Aisha's pod, the beeping of the heart monitor joining the other rhythm she's created for herself in the past couple of days.

Tanya reaches over and gives Kat's hand a brief squeeze, "I'll be in the mess hall, alright?"

Kat nods, holding on for a second longer than she feels would've been normal. As Tanya walks away, she calls out, "Wait, do you have a name in mind?"

Raising her eyebrows, Tanya turns around, "I thought J-Tech handled that."

Kat chuckles. "We can make suggestions," she says with a shrug.

Stopping in her tracks, Tanya tilts her head, thinking, and glances at Aisha's pod. Kat follows her gaze, her heart light and hopeful, then looks back at Tanya, waiting. Tanya nods once, to herself, as if confirming her final answer, and before she even says it, Kat hears it in her own thoughts, "Celestial Guardian."

**Author's Note:**

> title from Crystals - Of Monsters and Men
> 
> there's a couple of other ships here if u Squint (and some without even Squinting) bc imo the mmpr/zeo crew are all kinda... In with each other... but i didn't tag any other ships bc tanyakat is the focus obvsly
> 
> also (even tho i used year marks) time doesn't exist in this au so like... don't ask me how old anyone is, i don't wanna think about it, it's hard


End file.
